Flying for Fun
D.B. Mathews 909 N. Maize Rd., Townhouse 734, Wichita KS 67212
Do You Really Believe That?
In his June 2003 "President's Perspective" column, AMA President Dave Brown expressed his considerable concerns about the Internet's influence on the rapid distribution of negative information concerning our sport. He wrote:
"Instant communication and the ability to communicate with a wide audience are wonderful capabilities when the information is correct, but at an amazing speed, that medium can also spread information that is either completely wrong or sometimes detrimental to the intended audience."
He is warning about the dangers of, first, believing what one reads on the Internet, and second, repeating it. In the frame of reference he was using, the real danger lies in repeating something one reads on the Internet and accepting it with confidence without checking it out from a logical and corroboration standpoint.
For many months I have been gathering courage to address this same blind-trust phenomenon as it applies to modeling chat rooms and products. For reasons best understood by a psychiatrist, a surprising amount of negative "expert" information seems to be posted on these Web sites that is, at best, personal opinion and at worst, plain libelous.
Have you noticed that in nearly every instance these negative comments and reports are unsigned or use some code name? I was taught that when writing and expressing an opinion, it is not news and requires a byline. Few newspapers and magazines accept unsigned letters, and they will occasionally state that a name was withheld by request. Product reviews in the modeling magazines always have bylines. The reason is obvious if you think about it: if people have the courage of their convictions, they should also have the courage to acknowledge their authorship.
Consider the damage that can be done to a manufacturer by a person who, for whatever reason, writes negative things about its products, submits them to a chat room, and gives no indication of his or her name or address and no valid way to measure his or her expertise. Furthermore, the manufacturer has no way to rebut those comments or correct any technical errors and misunderstood directions since it has no idea to whom to reply. This entire process provides a beautiful opportunity for some hate-filled person to badly hurt someone, all in complete anonymity. And consider what a devious way this would be for business competitors to damage each other.
There is an old saying—to consider the source—that used to apply to the caution a thinking person needed to use with any information passed on by someone other than the ones directly affected. There is nothing gossips hate worse than someone who checks out the accuracy of a story before repeating it. If information, comments, or recommendations are posted on the Internet unsigned, I'm inclined to ignore them. Conversely, if someone has the courage to put his or her name on an opinion, I tend to pay attention. That obligation to be truthful bears on all of us who write columns for magazines. If they were printed without bylines, it's hard to tell what extravagant lies we might tell. I have no problem with the Internet and the incredible new vistas it is opening in our society. That aspect is positively influencing our lives and will continue to do so. I strenuously object to its misuse by people of questionable mental health who are hoping to carry out personal vendettas or inflate their egos.
How Sweet It Is!
I am writing this on a late-April Saturday evening after spending the day at an area float-fly. Sponsored by the Tri-City Modelers (one club for three neighboring small towns), 22 registered pilots flew off a small lake southwest of Wellington, Kansas. I'd suspect that similar events are taking place this same weekend across the U.S.
Common to most of these events is a laid-back atmosphere of model-airplane nuts enjoying themselves. These local gatherings never receive national media coverage. If any photos of them are printed, they will likely be those tiny things in the district vice presidents' columns, and they are important only to the locals.
Yet these smallish get-togethers are the glue that holds our sport together. Combine the nationwide entries at these local events, and you will find that far more modelers are flying at them than at any major event.
What exactly is the appeal? I have no idea, but the combination of block party, picnic, and family reunion certainly has much attraction. Most important, these people enjoy visiting with people they see every day and people they only see at these sorts of get-togethers; they are flying for fun only. No judgments are made, no measurements are taken, no feelings are hurt or egos are threatened. There is no anger and no tension—just fun.
Prizes are awarded by drawing pilot numbers. What could be more fair than that? Less-than-perfect landings are treated with humor and a sense of "it could happen to me" since no one at these sorts of events has any need to feel superior. Those of you who don't get what I'm describing sure are missing out on some good times.
Loose Ends
- Full-size Veco drawings: Several readers wrote to obtain a source of full-size drawings for the Veco kit line as illustrated in a recent column. For some reason Veco included half-size drawings in its kits, but Joe Wagner—the original designer—has redrawn them full size and sells prints. If you're looking for plans for a Sioux, Chief, etc., contact Joe Wagner at 212 S. Pine Ave., Ozark, AL 36360.
- Contact for Bob File: Does anyone out there know of a way to contact Bob File or his family? Bob designed and had published several designs in the 1930s, and some of those designs have become popular in England. I had a file (pun intended), but I cannot find it. Can anyone help?
- Jerry O'Keefe's Bandito Grande: Jerry sent in a photo of his Bandito Grande and wrote: "My version of the Grande is powered with a Saito 150 which is more than enough power. Thus far, I have only flown the aircraft at approximately 1/3 throttle for good performance. I have followed your building instructions completely with the exception that I haven't yet installed tail-bracing wires. Do you feel this is absolutely necessary?"
My response in short form is: "You better!" The reason is simple and complex, but those tail feathers are not solid sheet; they are built up and therefore not very rigid. Consider the large volume of wildly disturbed air that passes over the tail surfaces of a propeller-driven airplane. Have you ever noticed how much your pant legs whip around when you're standing behind the model with the engine running full blast?
Additionally, consider the incredibly rapid changes in positive to negative and back to positive G forces aerobatics exert on those same surfaces at the same time. Without exception, full-scale aerobatic aircraft have wire-braced empennages. I know of two situations in which tail-brace failure led to fatal crashes.
Jerry, unless you'd like to see how long it will take for a section of empennage to reach the ground after the bulk of your Bandito Grande hits, put on the wires.
- Identification anecdote: The last two columns discussed identification between friend and foe. I received a neat tie-in from Jim Neumann, who is an ex-Royal Air Force (RAF) member and current U.S. citizen. One of his old flying buddies sent him the following:
Two members of the Lothian and Borders traffic police were out on the Berwickshire Moors with a radar gun recently, happily engaged in apprehending speeding motorists, when their equipment suddenly locked up completely with the unexpected reading of well over 300 mph.
The mystery was explained seconds later as a low-flying Harrier hurtled over their heads. The boys in blue, upset at the damage to their radar gun, put in a complaint to the RAF, but were somewhat chastened when the RAF pointed out that the damage might have been more severe.
"The Harrier's target seeker had locked on to the 'enemy' radar and triggered an automatic retaliatory air-to-surface missile attack. Luckily, the Harrier was operating unarmed."
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
